A fuel distributor pipe for supplying fuel to a V-shaped engine having two cylinder banks comprises for example a main pipe provided for each cylinder bank and a sub-pipe connecting these main pipes.
Each main pipe is made of metal tubing and has fuel supply ports for supplying fuel to fuel injectors in cylinders in each bank.
Fuel supplied to one of the main pipes from a pump is circulated to the other main pipe via the sub-pipe and supplied to the fuel injectors from these ports. Excess fuel is recovered in a fuel tank via a fuel return pipe connected to one end of the other main pipe. A pressure regulator for maintaining constant fuel pressure is interposed therebetween.
The above fuel distributor pipe construction is disclosed for example in Jikkai Hei 2-59252 and Jikkai Hei 2-59259 published in 1990, and in Jikkai Hei 6-73372 published in 1994, by the Japanese Patent Office.
However in this type of distributor pipe arrangement, there may be a minute difference in the heights of the main pipes due to a dimensional tolerance error of the two cylinder banks in a vertical direction, and this tends to cause stress in connections between the main pipes and sub-pipe when the sub-pipe is constructed with metal tubing.
The dimensional error may be absorbed by using eye joints in the connections, but this leads to an increase of parts and makes the cost of manufacturing the fuel distributor pipe higher.
When rubber hose is used for the sub-pipes stress is not produced in the connections, however this requires clamps to prevent the hose from becoming detached which still leads to more parts and higher cost.